On Tuesday, the news we have all been waitingfor finally came: Britain is officially out of recession.

And while thingsaren't going to improve overnight, I can't help but feel optimistic aboutthe year ahead.

Experts predicted the property market would slump in January, following a rushof home buyers in November and December trying to take advantage of the stampduty holiday before it ended. 

So, with things movingin the right direction, what better time is there to list your properties on directly on www.ukhousing.com and contact potential buyers directly.  

Together we can stop bad estate agents overheating the market and Sell or Rent your property direct.  

Are house price rises a good thing?

Over the past few weeks there have been a number of positiveindicators that the housing marketing is staging a recovery, or at the veryleast prices have stopped falling.

This may come as some as welcome news for the bewildered Britishbuilding sector and the countless pig like estate agents and greedy home ownerswho are dying to go back to the price rise bubble of the past 10 years.  However is this what we need in the UK.  Should out economy be so dependent on the residentialconstruction industry?

The resultsof the 2008 ASHE show that median weekly pay for full-time employees in the UKgrew by 4.6 per cent in the year to April 2008 to reach £479. Median earningsof full-time male employees was £521 per week in April 2008; for women themedian was £412.

It was the availability of cheap credit and lacks controlsof many of our financial institutions that got us into this mess.  This resulted in the average house price risingto 180,000 at its peak, whilst the average income roughly tracked retailinflation at a steady 2-5% pa over the last ten years.

"As a society we need to decide that if we want to live in a four bedroom house with a x5 parked on the drive it should be a question of how much money i can earn, not how much credit I can access." 

The government of the day seemed unwilling to say in publicwhat many of us industry insiders knew which was this housing bubble is unsustainable.  Instead what we got were ever more ridiculousschemes being announced to help first time buyer got on to the housing ladderand the banks lining up to oblige with ever more risky lending practise.

But enough of the past..

Looking to the future do we want house prices to rise?  Contrary to the current evidence, we at www.UKhousing.compredict that the worst in not yet over, and that government has constructed an artificialstabilising mechanism which has successfully halted the downward spiral.  If anyone is old enough to remember blackWednesday you'll now that governments can not buck the market, and that whenthe housing market supports are removed we will see an accelerated increase inrepossession.

What do you think?

In an attempt to solve the long term recession forecast, the Bank of England has cut official interest rates by half a percent to 1.5 percent...the lowest level in its 315-year history. So what will come of this?

Its hard to ignore the effects of the global credit crisis at the moment, house prices are falling, consumer spending has decreased and major retaillers have collapsed under the pressure. It seems that no-one is immune from this, as we saw the demise of Woolworths recently after nearly 100 of trading. The future might appear bleak but as with the previous recession of the early 1990s, we might see a light at the end of the tunnel. 

There is no doubt that the bank of England is under pressure as this latest cut moved them closer to the limits of monetary policy with a 0% interest rate. Now there is increasing pressure to avoid deflation and solve the effects of a weakening sterling whilst at the same time do everything it can to slow the impact of the recession. A big effect of this has been concentrated on house prices in the UK. Property no longer is the stable market that it was as the Housing makret has suffered its worst year on record falling by up to 16%. A similar pattern has been seen in the Service Sector, which makes up 75% of the UKs economy, where the fall was at a record pace in 2008 according to a survey by the Bank of England (BOE). 

On a more uplifting not, the BOE have given a warning about lending to houses and business is set to fall at the beginning of this year and consequently leading to more businesses going under and another fall in house prices. Whilst we are trying to protect our ecnonmy and increase people's confidence in the economy and securing jobs, can we really see when this will stabalise?

Yet we must look to the positive effects of the interest rate cuts and how this can jump start the depressed economy. With the co-operation of banks and other lenders to pass on the cuts we could see a positive effect. This will take a bit of time but the effects can be just what we need. The more support that is on offer from Banks and the Government alike, we must see any proposed changes as a step in the right direction. At least the Government and Bank of England are actually being proactive and creating solutions...however debatable they are!

Are you suffering from the effects of the failing property market? If you are looking for help and advice on selling your home then UKHousing.com can provide you with an answer. UKHousing.com provides people with the means to sell their house privately and without estate fee. We have a extensive portfolio of houses for sale UK all by the owner. Visit www.UKHousing.com and see how you can save money on your House Sale. 

As a first time buyer I want to know when god.. jehovah, allah, yahwe or the universe is going to give me  a break! 

I’ve been in the home owning wilderness for the past five years and being treated like a leper by the home owning democracy, for being too poor to join their club, despite earning more than the national average wage. I was also sadened by a Guardian Article on first time buyers and the cost of deposits.

Picture the scene...Me and my significant other at dinner parties and so desperately wanting to be able to say, “yeah...my house as gone up by 10k last month alone..” and “..gemma and I are thinking of upsizing soon...

I felt like Charlie of Charlie and the chocolate factory fame. Pressing my face against the shop window, looking longingly at magical creations of houses for sale UK on display but knowing that I could only hope to imagine the taste of what lay within, as no matter how much I hoped, the chocolate treasures would remain out of reach.

Well, with the recent falls in house prices I  could see my dream becoming a reality.. Once again I am Charlie… The Americans with their woeful oversight of their financial institutions have given me the bar of chocolate that I’ve been waiting for...

Tentatively, I ease the wrapper away from it contents and see something foreign.. It’s the ticket.. I find myself clawing at the wrapper, unble to control my fingers, my mind racing unable to comprehend or accept the possibility that I’ve may have found the ticket.  Yes I have the golden ticket!

I can now join the club.

The only problem is, when I present my golden ticket at the gates of the chocolate factory to a guard, let’s call him Mr Banker, (rumours are that he’s not very good at his job  and I hear he over indulges from time to time), he tells me that this golden ticket is no longer valid because of Mortgage rationing.

Now I'm only 8 years old and have no idea what that is… So I’m back outside the shop looking in… (again). 

But come on...didn’t we give you guys bucket loads of money not long ago?.  The decent thing to do would be to some a little back. 

I’m advocating responsible lending not, punitive lending. 

If I were a cynic I’d say that banks really don’t want to lend any money because they need to pay the government back the money that was lent, so they can get back to paying incompetent staff mega bonuses...but that’s if I were a cynic.

If we were all to take note of the constant doom and gloom in the current financial situation of the UK, I’m sure that no-one would even leave the house for fear of losing money or at best – to save money! However, with the inevitable cycle of boom and decline there are some good things to be aware of…or are there?

Reading a current online article about UK house prices crash, I was reflecting on the housing boom period that was fuelled by such programmes as Property Ladder or Location, Location, Location. Since we have all been told about the housing market being as safe as ‘houses’ and that the market could not crash, it comes as no surprise that we don’t see these programmes at the moment. 

But this is not all doom and gloom. Reading another article on the BBC it was reassuring to see that property sales rose in October for the second month in a row according to the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA). This means that sellers were being more realistic with their asking prices stimulating the market to buy.

As people have realised that they need to cut prices in order to sell it now becomes evident that the sellers no longer hold all the aces. People are looking for better prices and this requires the selling price to fall – below what they wouldn’t have considered a year ago. As saving money in on everyone’s mind there are other ways of getting around the reduction in house prices.

Taking control of your finances and reducing the costs is a winning way. With the mounting Estate Agent fees together with HIPs and stamp duty, the reduction in the selling price makes things really tight. However, there is one way to reduce these costs – sell your house privately.

By listing your own house without an estate agent you can manage the costs of advertising as well as the overall selling price. Imagine removing all the heartache of finding the right estate agent and deciding on the right selling price? Selling your own home can be a stressful experience and using the service UKHousing.com provide can make this simple and save you thousands. With 70% of house hunters going online to look for a property what better way to make the most of the current market and sell your house privately?

Why not think about how much you can save if you sell your own house and balance out the reduced selling price? Its simple and UKHousing.com can help.

I don't think estate agents should take the blame for the rise in house prices and subsequent large falls.

They were simply doing their job, which is (was) to get as much commission as possible for themselves and realise the highest value for the property.

I do however blame the banking system and indirectly the government for allowing this house price explosion to occur in the first place, becuase when even first time buyers in the North of England, earning a wage which is above the national average are struggling to get onto the housing ladder, alarm bells should have been ringing loud and clear in number 10!

At this point steps needed to be taken to address the irresponsible lending which was going on and the bank of England given a new mandate.

Call me a cynic, but I looked into buying a shared ownership apartment some months ago and was left with the feeling that the whole scheme was a trick to allow me to buy a fraction of an overpriced property and pay rent of the remaining portion. 

If the banks would not lend me a mortgage with repayment of 1000 pounds per month, why would they lend me 600, knowing that I still had a further 400 pounds in rent to pay? They shouldn’t right? But this was how shared ownership works. Smoke and mirrors!

As a result of the cheapness of money and the ever more imaginative ways of getting people onto the housing ladder , the UK went property mad, with countless property shows illustrating how even the most inept Neanderthal can make money from property.

Now the party is over and we all have the hangover and collectively as a society we need to adapt.

My thoughts go out to all who, like myself, are caught with negative equity. I console myself by saying that negative equity is not going to be an issue for me until I need to sell, which is not going to be for a while.

Other people are not so lucky as this credit crunch and subsequent fall in property values are leading us ever further into a major economic downturn.

So who do I blame..?

Everyone.

We all got greedy and brought into the myth of money for nothing. We should remember that a house is a home, not a Magic piggy bank.

Sometime in the next few years, house prices will start to rise again, but with fewer estate agents (thanks to this downturn, and ukhousing.com) and financial institutions.

I don't think estate agents should take the blame for the rise in house prices. They were simply doing their job, which is (was) to get as much commission as possible for themselves and realise the highest value for the property.

I do however blame the banking system and indirectly the government for allowing this house price explosion to occur in the first place, because when even first time buyers in the North of England, earning a wage which is above the national average are struggling to get onto the housing ladder, alarm bells should have been ringing loud and clear in number 10!

At this point steps needed to be taken to address the irresponsible lending which was going on and the bank of England given a new mandate.

Instead, all we got from the government and house builders, were ever more imaginative schemes to allow people to get onto the housing ladder, like shared ownership.

Call me a cynic, but I looked into buying a shared ownership apartment some months ago and was left with the feeling that the whole scheme was a trick to allow me to buy a fraction of an overpriced property and pay rent of the remaining portion.

My point was whether I am paying 600 pounds Mortgage and 400 pounds rent , 1000 pounds is still leaving my back account every month!

If the banks would not lend me a mortgage with repayment of 1000 pounds per month, why would they lend me 600, knowing that I still had a further 400 pounds in rent to pay? They shouldn’t right?.. But this was how shared ownership works. Smoke and mirrors!

As a result of the cheapness of money and the ever more imaginative ways of getting people onto the housing ladder , the UK went property mad, with countless property shows illustrating how even the most inept Neanderthal can make money from property.

Now the party is over and we all have the hangover and collectively as a society we need to adapt.

My thoughts go out to all who, like myself, are caught with negative equity. I console myself by saying that negative equity is not going to be an issue for me until I need to sell, which is not going to be for a while.

Other people are not so lucky as this credit crunch and subsequent fall in property values are leading us ever further into a major economic downturn.

So who do I blame..?

Everyone.

We all got greedy and brought into the myth of money for nothing. We should remember that a house is a home, not a Magic piggy bank.

Sometime in the next few years, house prices will start to rise again, but with fewer estate agents (thanks to this downturn, and ukhousing.com) and financial institutions.

Peter James writes for UKHousing.com, where you can save thousands from Private House Sales without an estate agent.